Forget the Glass Ceiling: It’s Time to Redesign the Building Ellen Bravo January 23, 2008 Women’s Faculty Council Medical College of Wisconsin

How are Women Doing?  Percentage of female CEOs in Fortune 500 companies?  Percentage of women among top earners?  Employment area where great gains in the last few decades?  Women's earnings as % of men?  Which professions have internal pay equity:  Law  Medicine  Journalism  Internet Professionals  Financial Managers  Retail Sales  Poultry Workers  Secretaries  Corporate Managers

Which Countries Lack Paid Leave?  Bangladesh  Botswana  Brazil  Cameroon  Canada  India  Iran  Mexico  Mongolia  Netherlands  Norway  Swaziland  Sweden  U.S.  Zambia

At the Top  Women CEO’s in Fortune 500: 2.6%  Women among top earners: 6%

Women in Government, Academia in U.S.  U.S. Senate – 16%  Governors – 18%  U.S. Congress – 16%  Tenured faculty – 25%

Area of Great Gain in U.S.  Moonlighting (holding more than one job) – women were 70% of new entrants, almost half of the category  A third of these women work two or more part- time jobs

Women’s Pay in U.S.  Women's earnings 77% of men's.  African-American women 72%  Latinas 58%

The Pay Gap  Law: 70%  Medicine: 77%  Internet Professionals: 88%  Financial Managers: 69%  Retail Sales: 64%  Poultry Workers: 71%  Secretaries: 90%  Corporate Managers: 68%  More than 90% of long-term low adult earners are female

Real Pay Gap Much Larger  Wage gap looks at one year, full-time workers.  Study of 15 years, all work hours, gap is 38% of men’s pay. Study by Stephen J. Rose and Heidi Hartmann, IWPR, “A Man’s Labor Market: The Long Term Earnings Gap.”

Realities about the Gap  Half the narrowing comes from loss of pay of men, particularly men of color  Gap is widest for women with highest education and longest hours  Mommy gap has increased

WHY DO WOMEN EARN SO LITTLE MONEY? Show of Hands

Explanations?  Women need less.  Women deserve less.  Women’s jobs require little skill or training.  Women do their jobs out of love.  Women trade income for flexibility.

Explanation?  Women are too shy – they don’t ask

Women earn less because:  Their employers pay them less  In “women’s” jobs  In same jobs as men  Fewer in top jobs  History – devaluing of women and work associated with women

Biased Job Evaluations  Female bindery workers get no points for binding skill - all women know how to sew  Nurses jobs unpleasant? “Do you work with grease?  Omitting a range of tasks related to women’s work - eg, dealing with the public, handling multiple tasks, consequence of error.

U.S. Laws Not Enough  Equal Pay Act of 1963 – by then most women and men didn’t do same jobs  Civil Rights Act of 1964 – gender added as a joke  Costs of sexual harassment.  Recent Supreme Court decision on pay discrimination.

Why Are So Few Women at the Top? Your views?

Good Old Boy Network  More than half of the chairs of the boards of Fortune 500 companies are sons of former board chairs of those companies.  80% of job openings are filled by word of mouth with no advertising

Other Barriers  Work-family policies: family values too often end at the workplace door.  Fringe rather than core  Lack of reduced time – or penalty attached  Notion of success as face time  Lowest-paid, least flexible

How the US Stacks Up: Paid Leave  100% Pay: Bangladesh Brazil Cameroon India Netherlands Norway Sweden Zambia  Partial Pay  Canada – 50 weeks, 55%  Botswana – 12 weeks 25%  Iran, 16 weeks, 66%  Mongolia – 17 weeks, 70%  No Pay  Swaziland  U.S.

Not So Family-Friendly  Most women in U.S. have no paid maternity leave  No federal law in U.S. requires paid sick days – half the workforce, three- fourths of low-wage, have none.

Problems with U.S. FMLA Nearly half the private sector workforce isn’t covered Doesn’t cover siblings, same-sex partners Doesn’t cover routine illness It’s unpaid.

Additional Reasons  Mommy penalty (even with stronger policies) – mothers 44% less likely be hired, paid $11,000 less (Correll study)  Part-time inequity  Lack of bargaining rights  Intersection with race discrimination.  Percent increases, what you made at your last job

Corporate Culture  Jack Welch: “People who publicly struggle with work-life balance problems and continually turn to the company for help get pigeonholed as ambivalent, entitled, uncommitted, incompetent – or all of the above.”  Problems even at many “best places to work.”  “Aha” moments

What’s at Stake  High cost of being poor  Well-being of children and families  highest child poverty, infant mortality rates in industrialized world  Public health  High costs for employers – turnover  150% of salary; $5500 for low-wage workers.

Redesign the Building  Revalue women’s work  Make work-family core instead of fringe – related to how work is designed  Change concept success, what it takes to advance  Make formal, available to all  Make affordable, accessible  Quality part-time - equity in pay, benefits, advancement  Accountability for managers

Why: Not a Favor to Women  A better way to do business.  Talent  Retention  Customer Satisfaction  Fit with mission  Reputation in the community  Examples:  SAS  Costco vs. Wal-Mart

What are the Solutions: Employers  Get buy-in on what’s at stake  Conduct an audit: pay, training, advancement, use of policies  Team evaluate policies,recommend revisions  Look at practice, not just policies on paper  Change attitudes with training, role models  Affirmative action  Build skills – mentoring, scholarships, career development paths  Involve front-line staff.

Guarantee for All  Smart employers will do this on their own.  Not all – need public policies as well.

Public Policy Changes  Pay:  Pay equity - unbiased job evaluations  Equity for part-timers  Increase bargaining power  End family responsibility discrimination  Increase training  Gender equity on boards, management teams  Require policies, training re sexual harassment

Public Policy Changes  Value Families at Work  Expand access and affordability of FMLA  Guarantee paid sick days.  Expand definition family – same-sex, sibs, etc  Right to request flex.  End mandatory overtime.  Child Care  Public investment, quality  After-school care

How Do We Get There?  The best way to get what you need for yourself is to work with others on behalf of everyone.

Increased Collaboration  Connecting the dots: School nurses. Women. Seniors. Labor. Progressive employers. Moms Rising. Faith-based. Disabilities groups. Chronic disease. Alzheimers Association. AIDS groups. Mental health organizations. PTAs. Principals. School boards. Social workers. Cities/counties groups. Citizen Action. Welfare rights/anti- poverty groups. Children’s groups. Foster children. Work-family researchers. Legal groups. Parents of adult disabled. Adoption groups. Immigrant advocates. Racial justice groups. Human Rights groups. LGBT groups. Non-profit associations. Insurers. Women’s business groups. AAUW. YWCA. Planned Parenthood. Family Physicians

Making Progress in the States  Winning forms of paid leave  expanding TDI to include family leave:  California won!  New Jersey  New York  creating new form of social insurance:  Washington won!  Illinois  Massachusetts

Making Progress in the States  Making progress on guaranteeing protection:  Sick days:  San Francisco won!  DC will win!  Massachusetts. Maine, Milwaukee  Many planning.  Family Care:  Maine, Washington  Expanding FMLA to domestic partners:  California won, Maine winning  FMLA for school activities:  Georgia  Wisconsin

Within the House  Housework is work to be done by those who live in the house.  Equal relationships are best for kids, for couples.